The lives of our children were destroyed by lockdowns — and long lockouts — from school during the pandemic.
This policy was largely forced through by Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
But we now know that President Biden and his wife-teacher, Jill Biden, were the ones who overruled their own medical experts to give Weingarten what she wanted — and threw American kids out the window.
It begins on the administration’s first day, when Jill Biden invited Weingarten and Becky Pringle, head of the National Education Association, to the White House, telling them, “I told you I was going to bring you with me to the White House. And on day one, you’re here,” according to a new book by Atlantic staff writer Franklin Foer, “The Last Politician.”
There they were, making sure kids didn’t get to have an education.
Foer is, of course, a partisan Democrat, and the portrayal of the Biden White House is comical in its friendliness.
In retelling the story of Jill meeting with two women, Foer repeats the disgusting canard, “In upper-middle-class neighborhoods . . . there was a sense that the unions were acting in a spirit of selfishness.”
That’s obviously a joke. Upper-middle-class people, in areas unlucky enough to be under teachers unions’ thumb, had every option available to their children.
They could hire a tutor, form a pod, move to their beach house, and send the kids to the open public school there or simply send them to private schools, which were, of course, open.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, for example, did just that, sending his daughter to an open private school while ensuring poor Californians were stuck with Randi’s closed public schools.
The lie that it was the “upper-middle-class” that had wanted school openings is necessary to liberals so they will never have to face the corrosive damage that was inflicted on poor children — mainly black and Hispanic children — all over America because of them.
It helps them avoid having to look at themselves in the mirror and know what they did.
Foer does admit poor children in Chicago were flailing. “Large numbers of students, especially in the most economically disadvantaged families, weren’t even logging on.”
But Jill apparently could not have cared less for those kids. “Instead of pressing the union chiefs, she paid tribute to them, reserving her highest praise for Weingarten.”
Foer proceeds to tell a story about Weingarten’s “history” with Joe Biden. President Barack Obama had applauded a school board in Rhode Island for getting rid of teachers with “appalling test results.” Weingarten confronted Vice President Biden about it, and he promised her, “I hear you. Give me time, and I’ll work this out.” Foer recounts, “Weingarten felt as if she had discovered a genuine ally.”
She had. A genuine ally to join her in her goal of putting kids last and making sure failed teachers get to keep their jobs.
And then comes this admission from Foer: “For the sake of avoiding conflict, especially conflict with an ally, the Biden administration trimmed its goal of returning kids to school to a fraction of what they promised on the campaign trail.”
Those of us watching at the time knew what had been done, that Weingarten had gotten what she wanted — closed schools — from President Biden.
But of course, the White House would never admit that so Jen Psaki went out and lied that the goal had somehow always been teaching in classrooms “at least one day a week in the majority of schools by Day 100.”
On the day Psaki delivered this lie, 66.1% of schools were already open for at least one day of in-person learning per week.
A few days before that press conference, the AFT had been allowed to alter language in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s school reopening policy.
Keeping kids out of school was all going according to plan.
Or, as Foer breezily concludes, Biden “was, in effect, conceding that for thousands of students, the rest of the school year [in 2021] would be lost to the pandemic.”
No, Franklin, their school year wasn’t lost to the pandemic.
That school year, from which thousands of kids are still struggling to recover, was lost to Randi Weingarten.
Thanks for letting us know for certain Joe Biden made that happen.
Remember this when a generation of children falls behind in test scores, graduation, and earnings.
When the racial gap in education widens even further.
The media will blame Republicans, guaranteed. Always remember: It was the Union and the Democrats. This is their fault. They sacrificed your children.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
